Softball to face Dartmouth with long shot Ivy title bid on the line

Softball (14–24 overall, 10–8 Ivy) will close out the season this weekend with a three-game series at Dartmouth (10–26, 7–11). The Tigers will be looking to rebound after a series loss to Cornell (10–32, 5–13) last weekend, in which they took the first game 10–5 and lost both of the next two by a score of 4–3. The series saw strong performances from senior outfielder Kaitlyn Waslawski (4 for 11, 4 RBI) and junior outfielder Megan Donahey (6 for 10, 2 runs scored). Sophomore pitcher Allie Reynolds started all three games for the Tigers, and her 18 ⅔ innings pushed her season total to 138 ⅓, first in the Ivy League. She also picked up her ninth win of the year in Saturday’s first game, moving her into third in the conference. Reynolds has started the last seven Ivy League games for the Tigers, going 2–5 in these starts.

If the Tigers win all three games this weekend and Harvard and Columbia both lose out, Princeton will end the season tied with Harvard, Columbia, and Penn for first in the Ivy League. This would earn the Tigers a share of the Ivy League title, their third in four years, having won the conference in 2016 and 2017. They would not, however, advance to the Ivy League Championship series, as Harvard and Columbia own the tiebreaker.

The Tigers’ pitching staff will have its hands full this weekend. Dartmouth is batting .302 in Ivy League play this season, and will be entering the weekend’s games having won both of its last two in-conference series, with wins against Cornell and Brown. This includes a 16–1 win against Cornell on April 20, Dartmouth’s season-high for runs scored. The Big Green’s offense is led by junior infielder Micah Schroder, whose .465 batting average, .531 on-base percentage, and .778 slugging percentage all lead the Ivy League. Schroder is also second in RBIs, with 32, and fifth in home runs, with six.

Princeton will be looking to capitalize on Dartmouth’s pitching struggles this weekend. The Big Green’s pitchers have combined for a 5.04 ERA in Ivy League play this season, second-to-last in the conference. The Tigers, on the other hand, have posted a 2.94 ERA in conference play this season, best in the Ivy League. This effort has been led by first-year pitcher Ali Blanchard, whose 0.48 ERA in Ivy League play is lowest in the conference, and Reynolds, who sits at 11th in the conference with a 3.51 ERA.

Dartmouth took two games out of three in the teams’ series last year, and the Tigers have not won a series against Dartmouth since the 2012 season. The two teams will face off in a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a game on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. All three games can be streamed on WatchESPN.